Author: Brian Moench

Last fall two members of UPHE, Dr. Brian Moench, and his brother Malin Moench, UPHE senior policy advisor, wrote an Op Ed in the SL Tribune warning of the impact of a Trump proposal to roll back vehicle fuel efficiency standards. Now that proposal has resurfaced and will thwart efforts to clean up the air on the Wasatch Front.

Our own Ex. Dir., Denni Cawley, has a great Op Ed in the SL Tribune, 12/11/16, outlining why we are concerned about theTrump administration’s wholesale love affair with dirty energy. It was written before Trump announced his nominees for EPA and Dept. of Interior; picks that would only have provoked an even stronger condemnation than reflected in the Op Ed.

The lead contamination scandal in Flint, Mich. should be serving as a wake up call to Utah’s state leaders about lead and exposure to the many other environmental toxins that we know are undermining our children’s mental capabilities, causing behavioral disorders, and triggering a wide range of neurologic diseases in adults. But what should happen in Utah and what actually does happen in Utah are often two very different things, as explained in UPHE’s Op Ed in the SL Tribune, April 24, 2016. You may read it here.

The explosive spread of a previously obscure virus called “Zika” is now being targeted as the cause of a South American and Latin American epidemic of a tragic and devastating brain birth defect called microcephaly. Op Ed by UPHE President, Dr. Brian Moench explains

Op Ed by Dr. Brian Moench in the Salt Lake Tribune, June 23, 2015. The encyclical from the Pope establishes the moral imperative of protecting the environment, avoiding climate disaster, and no longer allowing a wealthy few to exploit the planet’s resources for their own profitability. “God is now on the side of science.” To read more….

Op Ed in the SL Tribune May 21, 2015 by Dr. Moench on the possible dust consequences of plans to divert water from the Bear River, which will further shrink the Great Salt Lake. This has been done before in other parts of the world, like the Aral Sea, and the result has been an air pollution and public health disaster. Utah residents should not let a huge, irreversible mistake like this happen with the GSL. To read more...

On the Utah Department of Health “Pregnancy Risk Line” is this statement: “Research has not shown conclusive evidence of birth defects or other poor outcomes from exposure to poor air quality in pregnancy.”

UDOH’s statement is as medically accurate as the 1947 ads featuring doctors pitching cigarettes as “good for you.” To Read more:

“My pulmonary doctor told me to avoid wood smoke at any cost, telling me [it] was damaging my lungs. Yet here I sit, a prisoner in my own smoke-filled house. What can I do? Is there no law against wood smoke invading one’s space?”

“I don’t even have to smoke to get cancer now! You wood stove owners are doing that for me!”

“I just sit in my house like a trapped prisoner to the [wood] smoke. Sometimes I just cry. Sometimes I will get in my car and try to get away from the smoke. This year is worse than last because more people are burning more than ever.”

Our dreaded winter inversion season is just around the corner. We can expect more rallies, more legislation, more debates between lawmakers and clean air advocates and more national and international notoriety for our sometimes “worst in the nation” pollution. Last January, much to his credit, Gov. Gary Herbert called for a wintertime ban on wood burning in our worst polluted counties. His proposal deserves community-wide and legislative support. [Read More]